A Sealed Deal
by Ray The Red
Summary: The Art of Sealing was a well of almost unlimited potential; with a burning desire, an iron clad will and some blood almost anything was possible. Of course Jiraiya, at 13, didn't know that. Instead of reverse summoning himself to Mount Myouboku he summoned someone else and it changed the world. -An SI/OC from an outside point of view.-
1. Chapter 1: The Summoning

_The Summoning_

The art of sealing was something that, whilst it did have it laws and rules, had almost unlimited potential. It could create new dimensions as per the storage seal, or make a paper turn into an explosive force that could kill you in an instant. It could even, with the summoning jutsu, create a pathway to a different place or even dimension. It was therefore a highly respected thing to be a master of it, and after just having seen Sarutobi Sensei summon a monkey Jiraiya realized that he wanted to be able to do it.

So, that's why he was here in Training Ground 3, ready to try his hand at this summoning business. He'd looked up the hand signs, which were only four in total (too easy!), and a little bit of its history. All in all it looked awesome and he wanted to have a cool, powerful summon at his beck and call. Screw monkeys, he'd get something even better! Oh yes, something like a dragon or a tiger, or even a bear would do. Hell, if he were honest anything would do, really, just as long as he did this and succeeded at something before Orochimaru. Bah Orochimaru – the genius everyone praised and lauded. He'd show them! He'd show Sarutobi-sensei and that flat chested demon that was Tsunade.

Having she demons as his summons wouldn't be such a bad idea either, now he come think of it. He grinned at that thought. Hell had no fury like a woman scorned right? They would need to be more…mature of body though. With lecherous thoughts of hot women on his mind (doing his bidding because that's what summons did) he started doing the justu.

His chakra responded to his call, molding into the form that the hand signs required it. He bit his thumb, drawing the blood required and his palm slammed into the ground, his brash voice shouting, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!". Smoke filled the immediate area, making him cough and his eyes water.

Well, the good news was he hadn't blown himself up, the bad news was that he'd failed. Or, so he'd though until he heard somebody or _something _else coughing within the smoke. It, whatever it was, was also cursing quite a bit. By the Great Sage, had he actually succeeded on his first try?

A breeze on this fine spring day blew away the last of the smoke and what he saw standing there made his jaw drop and his eyes almost pop out of their sockets. Oh, he had succeeded alright. Beyond his wildest dreams and expectations.

Right there stood a girl – a beautiful, beautiful girl. Black as dark as midnight strung in a pony tail that reached only a bit past her shoulders. One of the shoulders showed. It was sleek with tanned skin just like his but it was so much more pristine – not as peasantry. The white shirt she was wearing was wide, and hung around her frame, but at the same time is showed off just the right hints of her body's contours. Her hands were dainty little thing, he could even make that out from three feet away. They were also wet, a few droplets falling down. His eyes followed them.

The legs were in full view, she only wearing a red unmentionable, and they were showing the same flawless skin that he had only seen in gravure magazines and what he imagined royals looked like. They weren't very long, but then they needn't be. His eyes traveled back up, passing along her rather short neck, and looked at her face. Her eyes were almond shaped, and the color of them was as dark as his own. Plumb lips formed an 'oh' below a slightly round nose. She was as exotic as it could get in Konoha. If anything she looked like she hailed from Kumo.

She was looking at him with much the same shock as he was taking her in. That moment of silence seemed to last for an eternity, this first encounter. And then it was broken as another breeze came through the clearing.

Her eyes so wide before with shock narrowed down into slits. He knew that look very well, Tsunade had worn it more than once. She pulled down her wide shirt to cover her unmentionable, and she opened her mouth.

"Who the fuck are you!"

It wasn't the most pleasant thing to hear, but her accent did tell him that she was not from Konoha. At all. Kumo was still an option, seeing as he didn't know that particular accent. He ignored the little warble that showed she was still nervous because that accent could mean only one thing; he had summoned her. It was such an absurd thought that he didn't believe it even if he wanted to. It had been a joke, a bad one at that. He had fully expected to fail.

This…it…it simply couldn't be true.

He put his fingers into a familiar form, called forth his chakra, and shouted "Kai!"

Nothing changed, the air didn't start to waver and she didn't start to disappear. She was still standing there, as solid, exotic and angry as she had been a second ago. He still heard her breath, which was rather quick, and if he focused felt her civilian level chakra. Her eyes had been flicking from side to side, roaming the training field and finally landing back on him.

"Alright Kid, Kai, whatever your name is w-where are we." She licked her lips, and again her eyes darted around.

There was anger there, yes, but there was also fear. This girl, who was certainly a few years older than him, he put her at 15 or 16, was afraid. She was shaking, though she was hiding it rather well. Whether from the cool breeze that passed every once in a while or the fact that she was in an unknown place he didn't know. Maybe it was both. It also confirmed any doubt he had left; she was not from Konoha and not an illusion.

She was as real as it got.

He was still blown away by this very fact and his mouth just worked up and down as he tried to say a sentence – any sentence really. Because how do you explain to a person that you just summoned them from their very home? Hell, how was he going to convince people that he'd actually summoned her – it was impossible! Chakra laced creatures with whom one signed a contract, sure, but a human? That was simply unheard of. Ah fuck, what a mess!

"I know you can speak! Answer me!" This time the tone was more urgent, more powered by fear than anger.

He took a deep breath. He was a ninja and ninja's dealt with the unexpected all the time. It was your reaction and your reaction time that saved you from death more oft than not. It was time to react and not the time to panic. Time to panic would come later. Right now he needed her not to panic. He had no idea at all what she could do, civilian chakra or not – she was still a summon.

His summon, maybe, if she trusted him.

"My name's not Kai, it's Jiraiya. And where you are – where you find yourself - is Training ground three of Konoha Gakure." He would be polite, Keigo all the way even if it felt all weird coming out of his mouth. Too many words for just such a simple sentence. Bah, there was a reason he always spoke plain.

She laughed, it wasn't a particularly sane one. "You have got to be kidding me? The Village Hidden in the leaves?" she scoffed, "Please if you're going to lie, lie better. Don't bring figments of imagination into it. I do have to give you credit for dressing the part, though." She crossed her arms, apparently finding it safe to do so. She looked more resolute, her eyes no longer flitting to the trees that surrounded them. "Where are we truly."

He filed that away for later, even if he had no idea what she was rambling about. He wondered what part he was apparently playing. In any case, she was still his summon, if only by the act of having summoned her. He would be damned if he let her go.

"Konoha, we are truly in Konoha my lady."

"I ask you again, do not lie to me. Tell the truth, _boy._" That last part was said bitingly, anger once again the underscore of her words. She had a fire, that was for sure.

"I say again, I do not lie. You are, perhaps, as you say not in Konoha proper, but you are in her territory. Of that I can assure you." Maybe those classes on politics and the correct language to use whilst escorting guest of high rank was worth something after all.

She sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose. "Very well, _Jiraiya_ say we are in Konoha, as you claim and you are who you claim to be, how did I get here." She looked positively sure that her argument was solid. Irrefutable she stood there, arms crossed and a cocky smirk on her lips. It looked devastatingly hot in her current attire.

He gulped, heat rising to his cheeks at the sight as well as at the prospect of having to tell her how she had gotten where she had. Oh well, there was nothing for it.

" Well…it seems I have…summoned you here by accident."

She blinked. And then she blinked again. "Summoned?"

"Yes."

"You are joking, right?"

" I am afraid I am not."

She truly looked at him this time, and there was a flash of some sort of recognition there, and of a dawning horror. "Jiraiya, how old are you?"

"I am 13, my lady."

"And this is the first time you have tried the summoning justu?"

He nodded, "That is correct."

She was just looking at him then, a gob smacked look on her face. "And you summoned me?"

"By accident, yes."

The wooden poles still stood behind him, and she walked towards them and put her hand on the one in the middle. Against the one he had been tied to. She didn't look at him, but still spoke to him; "And you haven't, say, summoned a toad before me."

He raised an eyebrow. That was oddly specific. "I assure you I would have remembered if I had."

She groaned and put her head against the pole which had many kunai marks embedded in it. "A dream…that's all this is. A dream." She suddenly bashed her head against the pole, hard. She cried out, and stumbled backwards and fell down. He wasn't fast enough, shocked to see her do it.

He rushed to her side and saw the bump already forming, but that wasn't what concerned him. No, it was the look on her face. Tears were gathering in her eyes, and she was trembling. "It has to be a dream…a dream, has to be."

She stretched out her hand, and touched his hair, the white tufts touching her fingers which were still a little bit wet and as dainty as he had known they would be. Suddenly he knew what she was doing. She might not have said the word Genjutsu, but it is what she thought she was entangled in and she was verifying reality in the only ways she knew. That's what she had meant by the part he was playing and the comment about a figment of imagination.

The realization dawned on her that he was truly substantial. That he was not simply a mirage. He saw her eyes cloud over with tears, and she mumbled. "It's not, is it."

And he shook his head, "No, it's not."

With that the exotic, nameless girl, he had summoned broke down and cried. He after a while put an arm around her shoulder, not knowing how to comfort an older, not fully clad girl emotionally unstable girl. She accepted and leaned into him after the worst had passed. She still sniffed and hiccupped, but it was an improvement.

She wiped away a few stray tears and said, "I'm sorry, you shouldn't have had to see that." She pushed herself away, her pride obviously refusing the acknowledgment of his support but still thankful for it. It was more than he'd ever get out of Tsunade if she'd been in this situation. She would have punched him hard, as always.

"No it's okay, if anyone should say sorry it is me."

She smiled a wobbly smile at that declaration, not looking at him but the emotion somehow still carried. They sat there, looking at the sun high in the sky, and the leaves in the breeze. One of them was blown to her, and she caught it.

She looked at it and said, "So, Konoha eh?"

He nodded, "Yes, Konoha. May I ask your name?"

Again that wobbly smile appeared, "You may." She looked at him, red rimmed eyes looking into his, "My name is Harumi."

* * *

><p><strong>AN:<strong> This was supposed to be a crack and humor filled one-shot and yet it evolved into something that was a bit more than that. The chapters, when this particular idea strikes, probably won't be very long (about this length). Really, we'll see where this one takes me because I have no idea. Also the title might change. Serioulsy, if any of you have any good ideas let me know.

Harumi: Spring Beauty

Cheers,

Ray the Red


	2. Chapter 2: Something Stupid

_Something Stupid_

"So…has this ever happened before?"

Jiraiya glanced at her out of the corner of his eyes, "As far as I'm aware it hasn't."

Harumi – a fitting name, he thought - sighed and nodded her head, " I feared as much."

He twisted a blade of grass between his fingers and asked her something that he'd been wondering for a little while, " Am I right in assuming, then, that this hasn't happened to anyone of uhhh…"

A strained smile, he would later categorize it as cynical and bitter, appeared on her face. It was very different from the wobbly smile she'd shown him some ten minutes ago. It was sharper, that's what it was. She wasn't looking at him though, rather at the leaf that been blow to her.

"Of my kind?" He nodded. "No, not officially."

"And unofficially?"

"Unofficially there are stories that something like this can occur – has occurred, even. Some are more believable than others, but in the end they are just that; stories. To bend time and space is only possible in the realm of gods and imagination, but I suppose I, too, now walk there."

Her eyes were still looking at the leaf, and boy was it an intense look, but he had the feeling that Harumi was staring at something that was much farther away than that. "Lost like a leaf adrift in the wind," she turned those eyes on him, those almond eyes, and asked, " Can you perhaps show me the way back home?"

Jiraiya met them and said, " I don't know, but I can try. Is it on a map?"

She turned her eyes back onto that leaf, " Yes, but not any that your village possesses. "

Well, it wasn't accurate, but it was something. She was not from the elemental nations or, at least, not from a part that could easily be found on a map. He knew, for example, that the home of the monkeys was in the elemental nations but that only the Sarutobi knew how to get there. This was probably something similar.

He was about to ask what the place was called when she spoke; "You summoned me though, right?"

"Yes."

"Can't you, you know, unsummon me?"

"You mean reverse summon?"

"Yes, that. Whatever. Can you or can you not?"

He stared at her like she'd grown two heads. "I just _accidentally_ summoned you. Doesn't that tell you something?"

She paused, opened her mouth and promptly shut it again. "….You make a good point."

He felt kind of smug until he realized that that was kind of a backhanded compliment. Besides, wasn't she the summon here. Shouldn't she like know this summoning stuff inside out, even if it were just stories?

" Wait, can't you just do it yourself?"

She gave him a deadpan look, "Would I still be here if I could?"

"….No."

"Exactly."

Neither spoke for a few moments, both lost in thought. Harumi shifted, and twisted at her shirt. Another few minutes passed before he heard her huff. Then a not so indiscreet cough. He looked at her.

A blush graced her cheeks as she said, "I don't know if you _noticed_ but I'm here in a shirt and my underwear. It's rather chilly."

At that blunt reminder, the red unmentionables very viewable to him, his face became heated as well. A lecherous grin appeared.

"Right, underwear."

She pulled down her shirt over them, her eyes once again narrowed. "Yes, Jiraiya, underwear. If I'm going to have to stay here, at least for a while, I'll do so comfortably."

"Looks very comfortable to me."

"And socially acceptable."

"You sure Harumi?" He waggled his eyebrows.

She glared, "Very sure. Now wipe that stupid grin off of your face and get me something warmer or I swear to god I'll kick you in the nuts!"

Ahh, the beautiful and familiar sound of feminine fury.

* * *

><p>They walked across the field and came to the red bridge that connected training ground 3 to the rest of Konoha. Harumi stopped when she stood on it, and seemed to be fighting something within herself.<p>

Emotions too rampant for his meager training passed through her eyes, until she finally continued forwards. Once she hit the opposite banks he heard her whisper, but what she actually said was lost to him. He didn't pry.

It was as the woods started thinning that he saw her getting more nervous and nervous with each step she took until she stopped. She crossed her arms, "I refuse to go any further in my current state of dress."

"Well be that as may, standing here won't help you any in regard to getting more socially acceptable clothes."

She nodded, "Exactly. That's why I'll stay put, and you'll go get them for me."

He blinked. Did he just hear that correctly? "You want me to what?"

"Get me clothes that aren't my sleeping wear whilst I stay put."

He mirrored her, also crossing his arms. "No."

Yes he took some pity on her, but he wasn't about to go gallivanting into a women's clothing store and buy stuff for her. Besides, they wouldn't let him in anyways, one of the shop owners had caught him when he tried to steal some lacey underwear. Multiple times. It's what had inspired him to learn his Transparent Escape Jutsu. And boy was it useful. Very, very useful…

"What do you mean no?"

"Well, unless no has a different meaning where you come from, it means exactly what it means. Besides, why don't you just apply a henge so it looks like you have clothes on?"

She stared at him as if he'd just proposed she should instead run naked through the streets. Oh that'd be a view… He shook the nice image away as he had apparently broken his summon.

Harumi was looking at her hands like she'd never seen them before. Her eyebrows were creased in confusion, showcasing the red mark on her forehead where she'd banged her head. She was also biting her lower lip in as if she wasn't sure she liked the pair of hands she'd been given.

Finally she seemed to come to the decision when she slightly nodded and balled them into fists. With uncertainty written plainly across her features she proceeded to very slowly, with meticulous care, she make the hand signs required for the henge.

She held her fingers in the ram position even if she herself was shaking. She had her eyes tightly shut, like the younger kids at the academy do. The air around her legs shimmered a dark blue just a second before it faded away.

Dark eyes opened in shock, and he heard her gasp. Harumi sank to her knees, hands out on the ground in front of her. Her breathing was rapid, and when he rushed over and put his hand on her back he felt the rapid beat of her heart.

"Are you alright?"

Off course she wasn't, she was having a panic attack and a bad one at that. As per usual when one has a panic attack she didn't respond, just kept hyper ventilating. Hyper ventilating was bad as it made people– Harumi slumped down onto the road – faint.

Well, wasn't this just peachy. He had an unconscious, scantily dressed foreigner on his hands. A foreigner he'd summoned. One who was, apparently, prone to panic attacks when doing jutsu.

Just wonderful!

* * *

><p>Softly Jiraiya put Harumi on his bed. He walked into the small bathroom that he had and looked into the mirror.<p>

"What the fuck are you doing?"

A valid question as he really had no idea. He'd debated about going to the hospital only to shoot that particular option down rather swiftly; he'd have to explain her presence as well as the situation. He didn't want to, not like that anyway.

The next logical step had been Tsunade, but Harumi's clothes, or rather lack thereof, made that option very unfavorable. Not mention that that would generate even more questions so that, too, had become a no. Therefore the only place left was his home; his small, humble apartment.

He'd then had to think about how the hell he was going to go about that, because taking a knocked out, pajama-wearing girl to your apartment totally didn't raise red flags. In the end it'd actually been rather simple.

He'd put a genjutsu over her and himself that'd made it look like he was carrying a new rug – which, he did indeed needed to buy, now that he thought about it. It had gone off without a hitch.

He'd been able to run at top speed, so he'd made it back home in record time. Really, Harumi was very light and easy to carry. It had actually kind of surprised him, seeing as she was a few years older than him. It also kind of made him feel like he was in a fairy tale, the gallant prince saving the princess. The fact that he also got a few nice looks down into her shirt totally made it worth it.

"Something stupid that's what you're doing. So you got her here, now what?"

Another good question. He knew that eventually he had to tell people about his little accident, but he didn't want to. Not yet. He wanted to try and fix it himself first. Sure, it might be stupid to go it alone but this was his own mess. His alone, and therefore it was his responsibility. Plus the possibility of a contract was always still up in the air.

Besides, he'd promised her he'd try and get her home – he knew what it felt like to lose it. He wasn't about to let her lose hers forever. Not on his account he wasn't.

Confident dark eyes met his visage, "Now we do whatever we can to get ourselves a loyal summon."

* * *

><p><strong>AN:<strong> Hey folks, here's another short installment. Anyhow, I was wondering if for the next chapter I should do it from Harumi's point of view or keep it all in Jiraiya's? Also if I do go for the alternating POV's; does it matter if this is done in a pattern (for example, 2 chapters Jiraiya, 2 chapters Harumi) or just random?

Let me know what you guys think!

Cheers,

Ray the Red


	3. Chapter 3: Blood Oath

_Blood Oath_

Jiraiya was reading 'Rudimentary Sealing' in his living room, if it could be called such, when he heard the first signs of life from his bed room. It seemed like Harumi had finally woken up, and about time too. Three hours had passed since her little panic attack and he'd actually started contemplating bringing her to the hospital, consequences be damned, because maybe it had been something a little worse. To lessen his stress he'd gone out real quick to get groceries so they had enough food for the both of them as well as some clothes for her. Still the thought of her waking up without him there had only heightened his stress so he'd gotten back in a hurry and to reading.

He closed the rather boring book, put it on the coffee table on which lay a few gravure magazines, and got up from his comfortable position on his ratty couch. He opened his bedroom ready to greet her with a witty comment when he once again saw the girl crying, though it wasn't as hysterical as it had been on training ground 3. She was rolled up as ball, head between her knees, slowly rocking back and forth.

Her head snapped up when he entered, and he saw the resignation flash through her dark eyes. Seemed he'd just confirmed once again that she was still stuck in a place that wasn't here home. She closed her eyes and sighed deeply. They snapped open and whilst they were still sad they were also resolute.

"I take it this is your room?"

"It is."

She nodded and got out of her fetal position and stretched her legs. She looked around the room, eyes roving from his bedside cabinet to the model posters on his wall. She smirked, apparently finding the poster of a busy blonde in an orange bikini quite amusing. She walked to the window, the one looked out on the North district Konoha, in the direction of the Inuzuka Compound.

The sun was no longer as high in the sky as it had been when he'd accidentally summoned her and she noticed, as she asked, "How long was I out?"

He answered, "Give or take three hours. By the way, what happened? You got a special chakra system or something?"

At this she laughed, once again looking at her hands. "Something like that, yeah."

"Care to explain it so I can maybe help you more next time, seeing as I'm no med-nin myself."

At this she looked at him with her brow furrowed in confusion, "Yeah, well why didn't you just take me to one? Hell you could've taken me to Tsunade for that matter…"

His eyes widened at the casual mention of his team mate's name. She shouldn't know it, he hadn't told it to her. Tsunade's prowess in the realm of healing even less, seeing as it was a personal quirk and not very public knowledge. So then the question was; how did she know it? He was the one who narrowed his eyes this time, "How do you know that name?"

Her eyes widened, " I, I …"

He shot forward, had her pressed against the wall with a kunai to her throat within seconds. She squeaked, almond shaped eyes fearfully eyeing the tool that was pressed against her artery. "I ask you again, Harumi; How do you know her name!"

She swallowed hard, and closed her eyes. She was shaking like crazy, barely resisting but hestill held her up against that wall because now he was going over things. Perhaps he hadn't accidentally summoned her, perhaps she'd summoned herself to that spot and been playing him?

She opened them up, and Harumi looked down into his eyes, the height difference now quite clear, and spoke haltingly, "I know because…because w-who doesn't know of Senju Tsunade, granddaughter of the Shodaime and Student of Sarutobi Hiruzen, Third Hokage and The God of Shinobi."

"True as that may be, you know I have a connection to her. How? No, better yet; why are you here?"

"Y-You know why I'm here," she pleaded.

He pressed his kunai harder into her neck, "Do I?"

"Yes" she shouted, "Because of you!"

"So I'm your target? Is that it?" He twisted her arm now, and she gasped out in pain. It was too easy – he could break it with a fraction more power. She was weak and untrained and there was no way she was a Shinobi. Still, that didn't mean she wasn't dangerous. After all, the most powerful thing in this world was information, and she had some. Besides that she was a mysteries, an unknown, and unknowns were dangerous.

"N-N0!" Tears leaked out of her eyes, falling into already salty tracks. "Target is..is the wrong word."

"What would the right word be then?" He roughed her up against the wall, "Well?!"

"Chosen," she sobbed, "Please I'll tell you everything just…just let me go. Please!"

He mulled it over and decided that she couldn't do anything to him seeing as he was so much stronger than her- even with the age difference. He let her go and she slumped against the wall, great heaving sobs wracking her body. It kind of made him feel real bad and guilty because for all intents and purposes she was a civilian. Still, he needed to know.

" Harumi, chosen for what? For that matter, who chose me?"

He was now the one looking down onto her, showcasing just how much power he held over her. Harumi was shivering, but she once again had that look in her eye where she'd decided upon something. He heard her mutter something in a language that was so very foreign, so very alien to his ears. He shivered as he heard her utter the words, "_There's no going back now."_

Harumi then looked at him, eyes imploring "I- I didn't choose you."

"I know, but who did?"

She bit her lip, eyes on the floor. She was silent for a minute and he was about to ask her again when she said, "The Elder."

"The Elder, is he your people's leader?"

She shook her head, slowly dislodging her ponytail, "No. He is not my leader. He is a voice of prophecy – the voice of prophecy, actually."

"A voice of prophecy?" What in the Sage's name did that mean?

"Yes, he is just that a voice. He appears in those legends and stories I told you of. He speaks to those worthy and speaks a prophecy." Ah so a deity for her people, maybe their representation of the Sage?

He went down on his knees and looked into dark eyes, "And this voice, The Elder, spoke of me?"

"Yes, at least…I think so. I've never heard his voice myself, but everyone who has or claims he has writes it down. One such a legend, one such a story, claims that a boy by the name of Jiraiya will become a ninja of great repute." She looked at him now, straight into his eyes, "He will take on a student and this pupil will.." she closed her eyes, pulling the words from the recesses of her mind, " will become the harbinger of a great Revolution in the world of Ninja. They will finally bring peace to the world, or utterly destroy it." She nodded, "That was it."

Harumi was looking at him, and he was looking at her. Seconds ticked by. He squinted at her, head cocked to the side, "And you trust me to believe this bullshit?"

"Well…yeah." Her eyes told no lies, she truly believed he would buy it. He didn't know whether to feel insulted that she even believed him so gullible or feel sorry for her that she herself believed in this bullshit because really, she had no reason to be lying to him with pain and death practically hanging over her head.

"Okay. I'll believe there is a legend with my awesome name in it, hell I'll even believe that it includes a prophecy but I don't believe for second that it pertains to me." He crossed his arms, " Besides you could have just made that up, so give me the name of story and the Author. "

She blinked in surprise, "Masashi Kishimoto, that's the guy who heard this particular prophecy."

"And the Story?"

"Child of Prophecy, " she answered in a heartbeat.

Good, he'd look both of those up later, if they even had something this vague and obscure. Hmm maybe Sarutobi-Sensei knew something. He'd have to ask.

"Okay, and does this story include one of your people being summoned?"

Her eyes shifted to the side, "No…"

Jiraiya nodded, "Thought so. Therefore this prophecy doesn't have anything to do with me, only with a person who shares my name."

"I believe it does, " said Harumi, still looking to the side "but you're right with me in the equation things change."

"Change how?"

Forebodingly she answered, "I don't know, Jiraiya. I don't know." She turned her eyes back on him, "Anyways, you trust me again or still think I'm an assassin who wants to do you in?"

He grinned, "Well , you're certainly not an assassin, that's for sure. Besides even if you were, you couldn't take me down."

She nodded enthusiastically, "Precisely! S-so promise you won't ever do t-that again?"

"I promise."

She shook her head, "That's not good enough. Blood oath."

He raised an eyebrow, "Blood oath?"

"Yes, you cut in your palm and I cut into mine and we shake our hands and then make our promise – our oath. Which, in this case, is to never harm each other. The mingling of blood supposedly makes it unbreakable. It's the highest form of trust where I come from."

Alright, well if that's what it took to get her to trust him than that's what he'd do. Besides, blood was needed for summoning, and seeing as she was a summon it wasn't that unlikely a leap to make. "Alright, let's do this." He cut into his palm, drawing blood. He handed here the Kunai that not moments ago he had been holding against her neck. "Oh, is there any particular phrasing that needs to be done?"

She nodded, "Yeah, just say whatever I say. Oh, and Jiraiya you got a last name?"

"Is that important?"

"Yes, very."

"Kunimori."

With that she cut into her delicate hands, wincing as she drew blood. She held out her hand, and he grasped it. Hers was small and dainty, and was smooth as silk compared to his rough and calloused hands but her grip was strong, for her anyway. He slightly returned the favor.

She spoke and it was with a tone of seriousness, with a heaviness that hadn't held before. It took him a moment to place it; ceremonial, that's what it sounded like. "I, Sato Harumi, swear that as long as I live I will not intentionally harm Kunimori Jiriaya." She nodded to him, signaling that it was his turn.

"I, Kunimori Jiraiya, swear that as long as I live I will not intentionally harm Sato Harumi."

"So I seal this oath," she tightened her grip, eyes staring straight into his soul.

"So I seal this oath," he answered, meeting her head on.

Energy was floating in the air, though neither was very aware of it, too invested and in tune with it. A drop of blood, a mixture of both their life forces, fell from their hands and hit the floor. Unnoticed it blossomed into a design of ink, binding in its power.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:<strong> And that was Chapter 3, hopefully you enjoyed it. Next time the chapter will be longer, because that'll have more to cover. I think I'm finally getting a feeling of knowing where this is heading. Seriously though, I'll say it again, Kishimoto really fucked up his timeline ugh. Plus he left so much in the open, which for us fanfiction authors is both a blessing and curse.

Kunimori: Kuni from Country and Mori from forrest, so it basically means land of forest or forested land. A fitting name I found, seeing as he's from the land of Fire and all.

Sato: From _sa_ meaning "help" and _to_ meaning "wisteria", the latter syllable indicating a connection to the Fujiwara ("wisteria field") clan.

Cheers,

Ray the Red


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